Funeral for a Fallen Son
Whew. Now we get to an actual Bat-comic that feels like a "Requiem" issue. But does it deliver?
Well, Nightwing steals the show. Seriously, he does. He has a very realistic reaction to seeing Damian lying there dead. Just plain disbelief, that turns into anger focused on Damian's killer. Even at the funeral, he is the one pushing Bruce to say something, to what would probably have been total silence if he didn't.
Squire, watching the funeral of her own partner from afar, decides to take up the mantle of the Knight and move forward. It is in the same page space that it is also revealed that there may be a Lazarus Pit somewhere in the world, which I knew had to be coming so Damian as an out for his return.
The rest of the issue sets up what should be the finish of Morrison's run. You start to see the pieces go back into the box as Morrison pretty much outlaws Batman Incorporated and Bruce Wayne is to be brought in for his part in funding the vigilante, which is a scene we saw play out in issue #1 of the series. (Remember, Bruce was in front of two graves that issue. So who else dies?) So it seems like Morrison is hitting his own reset button for everything he has done in the series so far, which is almost entirely expected.
The art was kinda weird in this issue. We got some fill in pages by Jason Masters which took a similar look/style of Burnham's art, which is a nice way of not trying to jar the reader with awkward fill in art. Burnham's art seemed to go between some nicely detailed scenes to some that looked like some more time could have been spent cleaning them up. It wasn't anything too terrible to the eye, and I will say that the scene where Bruce is standing in the rain and the rain takes the shape of his angered face was nicely done.
It will be interesting to see where the story will go from here. I am thankful that we actually got a Requiem issue that really felt like it dealt with Robin's death. It really felt like Bruce was holding back until the very end, when even Batcow got a word in about the state of affairs. Bruce's reaction is expected, and now I'm ready to see Batman avenge his son's death.
Grades
Words: 8/10
Pictures: 8/10
General Feeling After Reading: Ready for a conclusion, but i don't quite want the story to end yet.
Buy Next Issue: Bring it on!
